1. Field of the Invention
The present invent ion relates to an optical fiber splicer and a n optical fiber splicing method which can splice a plurality of pairs of optical fibers continuously and automatically.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a conventional method of assembling an optical module such as an optical amplifier, optical fibers extending from optical components are routed to connection points and forming of the optical fibers is next performed prior to the fusion splicing. As the number of optical components increases, the routing of optical fibers become more complicated and the connection of optical fibers also becomes more troublesome because of increased connection points and precise position adjustment between optical fibers to be connected. To make the assembly of an optical module efficient, the use of a fiber sheet in the optical module is being considered.
In the case of assembling an optical module by using a fiber sheet, an optical fiber extending from the fiber sheet is connected to an optical fiber extending from an optical component. At this time, it is preferable to reduce the length of each optical fiber to be spliced from the viewpoints of mounting limitation and workability. The use of such a fiber sheet including optical fibers wired so as to correspond to the connecting relation between optical components can eliminate the need for an extra fiber length for connection of the optical components. However, in a conventional optical fiber splicer, it is difficult to connect short optical fibers, and in particular difficult to continuously and automatically connect short optical fibers.
The conventional optical fiber splicer includes a pair of electrodes and a pair of monitor cameras arranged in orthogonal relationship with the electrodes. Accordingly, it is impossible to ensure a plane space allowing the movement of optical fibers or the like between the electrodes. Further, since the electrodes are arranged horizontally, the ends of a plurality of adjacent optical fibers cannot be positioned between the electrodes by the horizontal movement of a plurality of pairs of optical fibers to be spliced. Further, in a short optical fiber connected at its one end to an optical component or a fiber sheet, there is a possibility that the optical fiber may be extremely bent to cause damage in performing longitudinal push adjustment. It is difficult for the conventional optical fiber splicer to overcome this problem.